Arouet wrote:ok, why don't you present a study you find reliable showing the link between autism and vaccines and we can look at that.

um, OK, Arouet, I'll bring back Dr Andrew Wakefield's evidence and papers and an interview, and a recent court ruling in Italiy that has had a media blackout in the US, but in the meantime why don't you consider why the drug companies have added 'autism' to the adverse reactions list on their vaccine factsheets?

(NaturalNews) The federal government has been publicly denying any link between autism and vaccines for over two decades, while it has quietly been paying out damages for vaccine injury to children with autism, a study released May 10th shows. The study underscores the need for Congressional hearings and independent scientific research into the connection between autism and vaccines (http://www.news-medical.net/news/201105 ... iate-Con...).

The federal government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was created in 1989 to act as a "no fault" taxpayer-funded alternative for those seeking compensation for proven vaccine injury. The new peer-reviewed study, published May 10th in the Pace Environmental Law Review, looked at cases of vaccine injury that have been monetarily compensated by the VICP. The study looked at 1300 cases of children with brain injury resulting from vaccines where the court's records referenced autism, symptoms of autism or disorders commonly associated with autism -- twenty-one cases outright stated "autism or autism-like symptoms" in the court records. The researchers then identified and contacted 150 of the families that were compensated to find out whether the children had autism. 62 of the families they contacted (greater than 40 percent of their sample) reported children with autism, for a total of 83 cases of autism. (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... sociated...).

NAA calls for immediate Congressional hearings and scientific investigation into autism-vaccine linkPublished on May 11, 2011 at 5:51 AM

Despite numerous studies cited repeatedly by federal officials as proof that vaccines do not cause autism, a new study released today in the Pace Environmental Law Review revealed that over the last two decades, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) has been quietly compensating dozens of vaccine injury cases involving a child with autism. The preliminary findings showed approximately 1300 cases of vaccine injury resulted in childhood brain injury, 83 of which had autism. The National Autism Association (NAA) says the study further underscores the need for Congressional hearings and independent scientific research into the autism-vaccine connection.

The only product liability-protection program of its kind, NVICP was established in the late 80s to act as a taxpayer-funded "no-fault" alternative in seeking medical care compensation for those with proven vaccine injuries. Since that time, the government has only publicly conceded to one vaccine-induced autism case involving nine-year-old Hannah Poling, but maintained Poling's case was "rare" and did not result in autism, but "autism-like symptoms." Based on the new report, however, the program has compensated far more cases involving a diagnosis of autism. "They've essentially taken the wordplay approach," states NAA President Wendy Fournier. "For an unavoidable vaccine-autism case like Hannah Poling's, the government chose to downplay the connection using semantics. In the 83 cases found in this investigation, the government maintains that vaccines caused 'encephalopathy' (brain damage) and/or 'residual seizure disorder' in these children with autism, but not the autism."

During a press conference held in Washington today, authors of the study called these preliminary findings "the tip of the iceberg." They feel hundreds of autism cases have been settled quietly by the government. Thousands more were never filed. There are currently over 5,000 vaccine court cases pending that claim autism as a result of vaccine injury. To date, with the exception of the concession of Hannah Poling's case, none of these claims have been successful. "The NVICP appears to favor cases without any reference to autism," Fournier added. "The message is clear, if you want to receive financial support for the long-term medical care of your loved one injured by vaccines, submit a claim for brain damage, or residual seizure disorder – but leave autism out of it."

NAA believes these findings call into serious question the continued assertion from federal health agencies that vaccines do not cause autism. "As this study shows, vaccines can and do cause brain damage and subsequent autism in certain children," said Fournier. "The government has been settling these cases for over twenty years, yet has failed to conduct research into why these children were susceptible to vaccine injury. This neglect will continue to needlessly and senselessly result in adverse reactions and autism in other children."

Let me suggest this: whether or not Wakefield got a bum rap or not, can we agree that the reliability of anything coming from him is seriously questioned and therefore should not be considered determinative without reliable replications and additional supporting studies?

Story at-a-glanceThe Italian Health Ministry recently conceded that the MMR vaccine caused autism in a now nine-year-old boy. The Bocca family has subsequently been awarded a 15-year annuity totaling 174,000 Euros (just under $220,000), plus reimbursement for court costs. The judge ruled the boy “has been damaged by irreversible complications due to vaccination (prophylaxis trivalent MMR”A documented serious side effect of vaccination, including smallpox, rabies, pertussis and MMR vaccine, is encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), which can lead to permanent brain damage and also result in regressive behaviorDozens of studies have confirmed the hotly contested findings of Dr. Wakefield, whose 1998 study suggested a link between the MMR vaccine, chronic bowel inflammation, and symptoms of regressive autism. This is in contrast to the many vaccine industry-sponsored studies that refuted this association, which were widely picked up by the media

Valentino Bocca was given an MMR shot in 2004, at the age of 15 months. According to his parents, the change in his behavior was immediate. That same night he refused to eat, and he developed diarrhea during the night. It quickly went downhill from there. Within days he was no longer able to put a spoon to his mouth, and he spent nights crying in pain. His parents immediately suspected the vaccination, but were told this was "impossible." Valentino progressively regressed, and received the diagnosis of autism a year later.

In the final analysis, the Italian Health Ministry disagreed with the initial conclusion of the pediatrician, conceding that the vaccine was at fault.

As a result, a court in Rimini, Italy recently awarded the Bocca family a 15-year annuity totaling 174,000 Euros (just under $220,000), plus reimbursement for court costs, ruling that Valentino "has been damaged by irreversible complications due to vaccination (prophylaxis trivalent MMR)i." According to a featured article in the UK newspaper, The Independentii, about 100 similar cases are now being examined by Italian lawyers, and more cases may be brought to court.

"Luca Ventaloro the family lawyer, said yesterday: "This is very significant for Britain which uses, and has used, an MMR vaccine with the same components as the one given to Valentino.

It is wrong for governments and their health authorities to exert strong pressure on parents to take children for the MMR jab while ignoring that this vaccine can cause autism and linked conditions." The number of autism cases has risen sharply since the 1970s, with one in 64 British children affected," The Independent reportsiii .

Why is US Media in Black-Out on this Story?

It’s well worth mentioning that this story has yet to be addressed in the US media... The Daily Mail was the first paper in the UK to talk about it on June 15iv. The Independent was the second to print an article, on June 17. The Daily Mail was the most substantive of the two. Their version included the following statements:

"Judge Lucio Ardigo, awarding compensation to the family... said it was ‘conclusively established’ that Valentino had suffered from an ‘autistic disorder associated with medium cognitive delay’ and his illness, as Dr Barboni stated, was linked to receiving the jab. Lawyer Mr Ventaloro explained yesterday: ‘This is very significant for Britain which uses, and has used, an MMR vaccine with the same components as the one given to Valentino. ‘It is wrong for governments and their health authorities to exert strong pressure on parents to take children for the MMR jab while ignoring that this vaccine can cause autism and linked conditions.’

Claudio Simion, a leading member of the lobby group Association for Freedom of Choice in Vaccination (Comilva), adds: ‘The Rimini judgment is vitally important for children everywhere. The numbers with autism are growing. It is a terrible thing that the authorities turn a blind eye to the connection between the MMR vaccination and this illness.’”

The complete lack of coverage of this case in the US media is a potent example of how health information is flat out censored in the US. Is it any wonder so many Americans are still in the dark? Whether hearing about this case in the US media would sway you to believe vaccines may cause autism or not, the REAL story here is the fact that you’re not even being allowed to learn about it in the first place!

"Controversial" MMR Vaccine Research Replicated and Accurate

It's virtually impossible to read an article about the MMR vaccine without coming across a reference to British gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield's 1998 research published in The Lancet, which suggested there may be a link between the MMR vaccine, chronic bowel disease, and autism. Ever since the article's publication, it has remained one of the most cited yet controversial studies on the topic of vaccine safety.

Few public health officials or doctors speaking about vaccination in the media today fail to drive home the point that Wakefield's research was subsequently "discredited" by the General Medical Council in Britain, while completely ignoring the facts about what his research actually showed, and the long list of studies done since then by other researchers that back up his initial findings.

Dr. Wakefield's 1998 study involved a retrospective case series analysis, which essentially reviews the clinical histories of a group of patients with a constellation of signs and symptoms that link them together and create a pattern. In this case, it was a group of autistic children with gastrointestinal problems, which led to the discovery of a novel bowel disease that Wakefield and his colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital in London first described.

But rather than celebrating the discovery of a tangible, treatable and potentially preventable serious health problem that could help those suffering with similar health issues, Wakefield's discovery became a hotly debated controversy in which Dr. Wakefield's personal and professional reputation was smeared.

Why?

Because the clinical story didn't end with bowel disease; it also included symptoms of regressive autism after receiving the MMR vaccine...

In the years following his 1998 finding, which linked the MMR vaccine to inflammatory bowel disease and symptoms of autism, Dr. Wakefield published another 19 papers on the vaccine-induced bowel disorder. All were peer reviewed, and none have been retracted. However, none of these 19 papers are ever discussed in the media.

The only study that keeps seeing the light of day is the original Lancet article from 1998. Another interesting fact is that, since that study, a large number of replication studies have been performed around the world, by other researchers, that confirm Wakefield's initial findings. Yet you never hear a word about those either!

For a list of 28 studies from around the world that support Dr. Wakefield's controversial 1998 findings, please see this previous article.

As one example of many, at the 2006 International Meeting for Autism Research, Stephen J. Walker, Ph.D. shared preliminary research findings that confirmed Dr. Wakefield's contested findings.

A research team from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina had examined children with regressive autism and bowel disease, and of the 82 tested at the time of his presentation, 70 were positive for the vaccine strain of the measles virus (as opposed to the wild strain of measles). What this proved was that a majority of children diagnosed with regressive autism had the vaccine strain of measles in their gastrointestinal tract, which is exactly what Dr. Wakefield had found back in 1998.

This doesn't automatically prove the vaccine was the cause of the autism, but it does at the very least suggest a link between these three factors—the presence of MMR vaccine strain of measles in the digestive tract; chronic bowel inflammation; and symptoms of regressive autism. Which brings us to even more recent research into the ramifications of chronic bowel inflammation.

MMR Vaccine Linked to Brain Inflammation

Whereas the research of Dr. Wakefield and others provide compelling evidence that MMR vaccine can cause chronic inflammatory bowel disease, other researchers have found links between the MMR and inflammation of the brain. Dr. Harold Buttram has written about the MMR vaccine's potential link to autism, due to the vaccine's potential to cause brain inflammation. He explains:

"First and perhaps foremost, MMR is incubated in chick embryo culture medium, which necessarily includes precursors of all the organ systems of the chick, including myelin basic protein. Merck Pharmaceuticals, which produces MMR vaccine, claims that all traces of the chick embryo are removed before the vaccine is released for use.

This may be true, but it is probably irrelevant as it does not take into account the process of mobile genetic elements, more commonly referred to as "jumping genes." Viruses being made up entirely of genetic material, they are highly susceptible to this process.

It has been shown that viruses are genetically changed by accepting genetic material from cell cultures.' The genetic imprint of the chick myelin basic protein, which is foreign to the human system because of its chick origin, may be programmed to induce antibodies against human myelin basic protein, once injected into the human system.

This in turn, potentially resulting in encephalitis."

If you don't want to take his word for it, take a look at the package insert for Merck's MMR vaccinev , which, on page seven, lists encephalitis as a potential side effect. Type 2 diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is another, along with a number of other potentially life altering conditions. Rarely, if ever, will your pediatrician calmly inform you of these reported side effects, which is why you'd be wise to read through the vaccine manufacturer product inserts as part of your own personal research, prior to vaccination.

Other Acknowledged Cases of MMR Vaccine Brain Damage

In 2009, the US District Court of Claims, also known as the "Vaccine Court," ruled in favor of awarding federal vaccine injury compensation to a young boy, who developed Pervasive Developmental Delay (PDD), a constellation of symptoms of brain dysfunction that includes autism and other learning disorders.

The parents of Bailey Banks argued that their son had a seizure 16 days after his first MMR vaccination. That, they said, led to a type of brain inflammation called Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM), which, in turn, led to PDD.

The court agreed that the MMR vaccine had, indeed, caused him to suffer Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis leading to permanent brain damage. According to the court decision, there was, "a proximate sequence of cause and effect leading inexorably from vaccination to Pervasive Developmental Delay."

As you can see, what we're seeing in some cases is little more than semantics, really, because what's the difference, in practical terms, between PDD and autism? Both words describe chronic brain dysfunction. They are essentially two ways to describe the same brain disorder at different points along a spectrum.

Essentially, this is how many people are misled and kept in the dark, because when the word "autism" is not used, everyone can keep insisting that "there's no evidence linking vaccines to autism." Still, for a parent and their affected child, the end result is the same

The case of Hannah Poling is another important case to ponder when discussing potential vaccine damage. In her case, it was found that vaccines "significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder," resulting in a brain disorder "with features of autism spectrum disorder."

Mitochondria are the powerhouses in your body's cells that produce energy. The US Court of Claims and government health agencies again stopped short of admitting a direct link between autism and vaccines, saying instead that vaccines may only be a danger for children who have a "rare" mitochondrial dysfunction.

The problem is that mitochondrial "dysfunction" may not be as rare as initially thought. According to some estimates, the prevalence may be as high as 1 in 50 children—which is pretty darn close to the current prevalence of autism.

But is it possible that what the government is calling a genetic predisposition for mitochondrial dysfunction is actually a biological or cellular response to numerous environmental assaults? You bet!

A brand new meta-analysis published in the March issue of Molecular Psychiatryvi discovered that, while five percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) had mitochondrial dysfunction (MD)—far higher than that found in the general population—79 percent of them were NOT associated with any kind of genetic abnormality! Seventy-four percent of children with ASD were also found to have gastrointestinal abnormalities, again supporting the link between chronic bowel disorders and autistic symptoms.

According to the authors:

"Neuroimaging, in vitro and post-mortem brain studies were consistent with an elevated prevalence of mitochondrial dysfunction (MD) in ASD. Taken together, these findings suggest children with ASD have a spectrum of mitochondrial dysfunction of differing severity...

The prevalence of many of these abnormalities was similar to the general population of children with mitochondrial dysfunction, suggesting that ASD/MD represents a distinct subgroup of children with MD.

Most ASD/MD cases (79%) were not associated with genetic abnormalities, raising the possibility of secondary mitochondrial dysfunction. Treatment studies for ASD/MD were limited, although improvements were noted in some studies with carnitine, co-enzyme Q10 and B-vitamins.

... Overall, this evidence supports the notion that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with ASD. Additional studies are needed to further define the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in ASD." [Emphasis mine]

A Pediatrician Responds

In response to the Italian case, Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, MDvii, posted the following statement on his Facebook page:

“One of the reasons the measles vaccine was originally administered to children was to prevent against the unfortunate, but rare complication of a measles infection-SSPE (Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis). Before the measles vaccine was licensed for use in the US in 1963, the CDC reports that 400,000 cases of measles infections occurred each year in the US. Yet, the incidence rate of measles encephalitis (SSPE) was only .0061 %. Encephalitis is another term for brain inflammation, and it occurs rarely after a measles infection due to a slow viral infection of the brain weeks, months or even years after the resolution of a measles infection.

According to the CDCviii , there were 368 cases of SSPE in US citizens between 1969 and 1981. 55 % (202) of the cases had only a history of having had a measles infection. 14 % (51) had a history of only having received the measles vaccine, and 17% had a history of having had both the natural measles infection and the measles vaccine. 14% (52) gave no history of either having had the measles infection or the vaccine. These data clearly show that SSPE can occur after a subset of people have received the measles vaccine.

The development of encephalitis is not just limited to people, who experience a natural measles infection. According to the CDC, 1 in 88 US children have received the diagnosis of autismix. In children with autism, we are finding that they too have a considerable amount of brain inflammation. In other words, children with autism also suffer from encephalitis.

Since the CDC points out that encephalitis can occur in people who receive the measles vaccine, it is scientifically valid to say that in a subset of the 1 in 88 children who suffer from autism, i.e., brain inflammation, the measles vaccine they received may have contributed to the onset of their brain inflammation. So, here's the tradeoff. We've gone from an encephalitis incidence rate post measles infection of .0061% to an encephalitis incidence rate post measles vaccination of 1.14% (1 in 88 children).

As a result of the use of the measles vaccine, we see fewer obvious cases of acute measles infections. Instead, however, we now have many more clinical cases of chronic brain inflammation, the very complication of a natural measles infection that the vaccine was supposed to protect against.

I'd say the measles vaccine program has failed to accomplish what it was meant to do, and now, as a result of our attempts to minimize the rare complication of a measles infection by stopping children from experiencing a measles infection, we have created the very problem of an inordinate amount of children with chronic brain inflammation. “

Why Don't Health Agencies Look At Risks of Excess Vaccinations?

Bear in mind that vaccine safety is not just about individual vaccines. Dr. Russell Blaylock has written an excellent paper that explains the connection between excessive vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism that is definitely worth reading.

Dr. Blaylock is suggesting that vaccines can over-stimulate your child's immune system and, when several vaccines are administered together, or in close succession, their interaction may completely overwhelm your child's developing immune system.

It's your child, so it's up to you to make an informed decision. For parents who are looking for the truth about vaccinations, I invite you to continue your journey by searching this site and other reliable resources like the National Vaccine Information Center for more information.

Let me suggest this: whether or not Wakefield got a bum rap or not, can we agree that the reliability of anything coming from him is seriously questioned and therefore should not be considered determinative without reliable replications and additional supporting studies?

That's timely, Arouet, I was just pasting in a recent interview with Andrew Wakefield who explains completely what happened with his 'bum rap' from the medical fraternity. His findings have been repeated and confirmed in 28 other studies, as listed here and in the previous post.

So, yes, I do want to get into Wakefield. You are in the dark ages if you think there is anything wrong with Wakefield's work. He has been 'seriously questioned' by people whose livelihood and pharmaceutical company share returns are heavily compromised by his work -- which only showed the presence of live measles in the gut of children with autism who had all been given MMR shots. He wasn't even looking for a link between autism and MMR, but he was deluged with calls from concerned parents with autistic kids who had heard about his research. Then he was set up by a smear campaign.

Anyhow, watch the video interview from beginning to end, and you might learn something. NIce to have the opportunity to get this material out into a forum full of dodgy pseudosceptics who are under-researched.

Why Medical Authorities Went to Such Extremes to Silence Dr. Andrew Wakefield

April 10 2010

In this interview, Dr. Andrew Wakefield shares his personal and professional insights into a number of topics, from the gut-brain connection so often seen in autistic children, to the safety of a number of childhood vaccines.

But most importantly, he sets the record straight on the harsh criticism he’s endured as the author of one of the most controversial vaccine-causing-autism studies ever done.

In addition to his hotly contested MMR study, published in the journal Lancet in 1998, he has published about 130-140 peer-reviewed papers looking at the mechanism and cause of inflammatory bowel disease, and has extensively investigated the brain-bowel connection in the context of children with developmental disorders such as autism.

As a gastrointestinal surgeon, Dr. Wakefield has investigated the connection between developmental disorders and bowel disease, and early exposure to vaccines. For example, in the beginning of our interview, he discusses the curious link between an unusual exposure to the measles virus and subsequent development of Crohn’s disease, and in many cases, autism.

One of the routes of this type of exposure is clearly vaccination.

One of the primary reasons for this interview was to discuss Dr. Wakefield’s recent media exposure, and allow him the opportunity to finally set the public record straight.

As you probably know, the scientific peer-review process is designed to ferret out the truth. But in some cases, such as the case of Dr. Wakefield, this process can become perverted by conflicts of interest.

There are tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars involved in the vaccine industry, and as a consequence there’s major pressure to suppress negative findings, such as the findings Dr. Wakefield uncovered.

In the last few months, he has been severely criticized in the media. Like every story there are always two sides and up until now he has not shared his due to advice he had received from his attorneys. That advice has now changed, and I wanted to provide him with the opportunity to tell his side of the story. In this interview, Dr. Wakefield opens up publicly for the first time.

If you have any interest in the vaccine controversy, I can strongly assure you that watching this fascinating video will be very rewarding.

Study Lands Dr. Wakefield in Hot Water

The story begins with the publication of a case series in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, in February 1998.

A case series essentially tells the clinical story of a group of patients with a constellation of signs and symptoms that link them together. In this case, it was a group of autistic children with gastric problems, which led to the discovery of a novel bowel disease.

But rather than celebrating the discovery of a tangible, treatable problem that can help these children and others suffering with similar health issues, it became a hotly debated controversy in which Dr. Wakefield’s reputation was smeared.

Why?

Because part of the patients’ story included regression after a vaccine.

“… If those children had regressed after natural chickenpox, you and I would not be sitting here now. But they didn’t. They regressed after a vaccine,” says Wakefield.

The vaccine in question was the MMR vaccine.

Since then, Dr. Wakefield’s study -- which suggests there may be a link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease, and autism -- has remained one of the most controversial studies on the topic of vaccine safety.

He knew he was about to enter treacherous waters when it was published, and he knew he needed to be prepared for the inevitable backlash from the vaccine industry. Says Dr. Wakefield:

“… I decided that I was going to review all of the safety studies about measles and measles-containing vaccines because if I was going to challenge the status quo and say things that might have an adverse effect on vaccine uptake, I had to know what I was talking about.

So I read all the papers, and I was absolutely appalled with the quality of the safety studies of the single [measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines], and the combined MMR vaccine in particular.”

His research led him to write a 250-page report, concluding that he could not support the use of the combined three-in-one MMR vaccine.

It simply was not safe.

This recommendation was made public during a press conference in February of 1998, at which time single vaccines were still available in the UK. But in order to protect MMR vaccine policy, in September of that same year, the British government withdrew the importation license for the single measles vaccine, leaving parents without any choice – they either had to vaccinate their children with the triple MMR vaccine, or not vaccinate.

The result?

A decline in vaccination, and an increase in measles outbreaks… But rather than acknowledging the lack of safe options, Dr. Wakefield was singled out as an “anti-vaccine advocate” whose recommendations caused a decline in children being vaccinated, and hence responsible for the increase in measles.

Says Wakefield:

“… it’s my opinion that it is entirely their responsibility that there has been a declining vaccine uptake in the UK, because they removed the option of the single vaccines and there have been outbreaks of infectious disease as a consequence.”

But that’s just the background of the story. Dr. Wakefield’s real media troubles had just barely begun.

Why are So Many Important Safety Studies Being Ignored?

As with most stories, a series of events took place, which recently catapulted Dr. Wakefield back into the media spotlight.

In the years after his initial controversial finding, linking the MMR vaccine to Crohn’s disease and autism, he published another 19 papers on the vaccine-induced disorder.

All were peer reviewed. However, strangely enough, none of these 19 papers are ever discussed in the media. The only study that keeps seeing the light of day is the original study from 1998, along with the original questions about conflicts of interest, which he explains in great detail in this interview.

This is very interesting indeed, because not only has he continued his own studies, but since then, a large number of replication studies have been performed around the world, by other researchers, that confirm his initial findings.

Says Wakefield:

“… it’s been replicated in Canada, in the U.S., in Venezuela, in Italy… [but] they never get mentioned. All you ever hear is that no one else has ever been able to replicate the findings.

I’m afraid that is false.”

For those of you who have swallowed this type of reporting hook line and sinker, here is a list of 28 studies from around the world that support Dr. Wakefield’s controversial findings:

The Real Dangers of Indemnifying Vaccine Manufacturers Against Lawsuits

Says Wakefield:

“In the background, things were going on behind the scenes that we didn’t know about… The Department of Health had contacted my medical school, the dean in particular, and had tried to close this research down... expressing concerns that it was unethical that all these children had autism. It wasn’t fair on them to go through these procedures.

Were they justified?

Well, here you had the world’s leading pediatric gastroenterologist and his colleagues saying, “Yes, they are justified, and here are the findings. We’re happy to show you the findings at any stage, in any venue that you like.”

But nonetheless, there was a concerted effort behind the scenes to stop the work.

And it was particularly the concern of the Department of Heath that there was pending litigation where I had agreed to act as an expert in the litigation… not trying to prove that it was right or wrong, but doing my best as an expert to determine whether there is a case in law against the vaccine manufacturers.”

This was around 1996-97. Wakefield says he “felt there was a professional and moral obligation” to get involved in the potential litigation, “because these children, when their parents die or become infirmed, they are on the street, no one cares, and no one is going to look after them.”

However, litigation was never to become reality for any of the vaccine manufacturers.

“What had happened when the MMR was introduced in the UK is that somehow the Department of Health or the government had done a deal with the manufacturers of one of the vaccines, SmithKline Beecham, to indemnify them against litigation,” says Wakefield.

“Now, why would they do that? What was the purpose of that?

Well, it turns out that the vaccine that they had at the time contained a strain of the mumps virus, Urabe AM9, which was dangerous. It caused meningitis.

… It was introduced into Canada and very quickly they found that it caused meningitis.

Rapidly after that, it was withdrawn in Canada, [but] it was still introduced in the UK, and it’s my opinion that SmithKline Beecham did not want to introduce it because they knew of these problems. They had a potential liability, a real liability.

And the government therefore, in order to give the contract to the home team, to a British company, indemnified them.”

As could be expected, the MMR vaccine containing the Urabe AM9 strain had to be withdrawn four years later because it was causing meningitis…

However, this dangerous vaccine was not taken off the market.

Instead, it was sent to Third World countries, including Brazil, where it ended up causing an epidemic outbreak of -- you guessed it – meningitis.

Dr. Wakefield feels it’s high time to expose this kind of cruel pandering of dangerous wares, without any risk, and I couldn’t agree more.

You are paying the price for corporate greed in every sense of the word. In fact, parents everywhere are paying money to put their children’s health at significant risk, without any recourse or assistance when something goes wrong –which it does more frequently than any of our health officials want to admit.

More Dirty Games…

Dr. Wakefield’s story is a cautionary tale of just how easy it can be to ruin someone’s hard-earned reputation, and just how difficult it can be to prove one's innocence – or rather, correctness -- even when you’re sitting with proof in hand.

“In 2004, I suddenly got this contact from a freelance journalist Brian Deer working on behalf of the Sunday Times making a whole series of allegations against me and my colleagues,” Dr. Wakefield says.

“In his opinion, these children did not need investigation. In his opinion, these children did not need a colonoscopy or a lumbar puncture or these other investigations that my clinical colleagues had deemed they most certainly did need.”

This is a journalist with no formal medical training whatsoever. It was just his opinion. But as a crafty wordsmith, he wove together a compelling tale of how Dr. Wakefield and his posse had rounded up autistic children for the purpose of creating a legal case against the vaccine manufacturers to bring about the downfall of the vaccine, in order to then launch his own vaccine onto the market.

It was a great story.

Too bad it wasn’t true.

Just for starters, had he done his homework, he would have realized the whole thing was impossible since the manufacturers were by then indemnified and couldn’t be sued anymore.

“He made so many factual errors, but he nonetheless managed to persuade the General Medical Council (GMC) to initiate a process of investigation against us. And by that stage, this had become such a political hot potato, the Minister of Health, and a number of people from the department... construed this case against us.

… So they determined that the world’s leading pediatric gastroenterologist was not fit to determine whether these children needed a colonoscopy or not for clinical indications.”

The world’s leading pediatric gastroenterologist he’s referring to here is not himself, but rather Professor John Walker-Smith, to whom Dr. Wakefield would refer parents of autistic children with highly complex medical histories.

“… So some doctors contacted me. Some parents put me in contact with their doctors, and I spoke to them. I communicated with them, and the referrals were made accordingly or not.

At the GMC, I was found guilty of causing children to have, for example, spinal taps because of this communication.

Now, that’s got to be a completely new charge -- causing children to have these tests. I didn’t do the test. I wasn’t there when the tests were done. I didn’t prescribe the tests. But I caused the children to have them because the parents called me and I suggested getting a referral to Walker-Smith.

That is how complex, and how bizarre and tortuous this process has become.”

There are many more complexities involved in this story and the latest rounds of media attention that has befallen Dr. Wakefield, which is why I strongly I urge you to listen to the entire interview above.

You can also read through the transcript in its entirety by clicking the Source link beneath the video.

Final Thoughts

This story, like so many other stories of great doctors and researchers who chase the truth and want nothing more than to protect those who cannot protect themselves from dangerous medicine, is a call to open your eyes, and to look deeper – to not simply believe the bits and pieces the media offers up as fact. Usually, there’s a lot more to the story.

And what you choose to believe – without sufficient amount of facts – can have serious ramifications on your health, and the health of your family.

Remember, you make serious, at times life-and-death, decisions based on what and who you believe…

So when it comes to vaccinating your child, how much do you really know about the vaccine in question? Who do you believe, and why?

Do you place your trust in the hands of those who have the most to gain and nothing to lose?

Or in the hands of those who have little, or nothing, to gain by your choice?

It’s up to you.

In the case of the MMR vaccine as a potential causative factor in autism and Crohn’s disease, this interview is filled with back-story and behind the scenes information about how the research has been, and continues to be, suppressed.

So listen to the interview, and continue doing your own research. Twenty-eight additional studies are listed above for your own investigation.

So there's 28 confirming studies of Wakefield's work. He also points out that when he did a review of existing MMR and vaccine safety studies, they were appalling in content and methodology.

In this, Wakefield is actually the reputable scientist who, like Galileo, is being harassed by the equivalent of the Catholic church who don't want to lose their grip on money and power -- the present-day medical fraternity.

What you pseudosceptics don't get is that the scientific process is corruptible by money, and that just because something is published in a scientific journal it may not be accurate or factual. In fact, a recent study suggested that at least 50% of medical journal articles will be proven wrong eventually. Further, it has been shown that researchers get greater rewards for fudging findings and showing interesting reults or large effects when there isn't anything there. A number of supposedly senior, eminent researchers have been discovered fabricating their findings recently, and have had their articles struck off from the journals -- and these are only the ones we are discovering that we know about.

Your pseudosceptical belief in 'science' is actually just a blind belief in authority and a process that you believe can be trusted --you don't realise the delivery of information is a social process mediated by actors with vested interests, not an absolute one. You need to read up on your postmodern theory on 'the document'.

it seems we can't trust many of the 'scientists', big pharma or the executive of government, but we can trust a handful of good, honest scientists and doctors, whistleblowers, natural health advocates and the courts.

As Dr. Lawrence Palevsky, MD (paediatrician), points out on his Facebook page:

One of the reasons the measles vaccine was originally administered to children was to prevent against the unfortunate, but rare complication of a measles infection-SSPE (Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis). Before the measles vaccine was licensed for use in the US in 1963, the CDC reports that 400,000 cases of measles infections occurred each year in the US. Yet, the incidence rate of measles encephalitis (SSPE) was only .0061 %. Encephalitis is another term for brain inflammation, and it occurs rarely after a measles infection due to a slow viral infection of the brain weeks, months or even years after the resolution of a measles infection.

The development of encephalitis is not just limited to people, who experience a natural measles infection. According to the CDC, 1 in 88 US children have received the diagnosis of autismix. In children with autism, we are finding that they too have a considerable amount of brain inflammation. In other words, children with autism also suffer from encephalitis.

As a result of the use of the measles vaccine, we see fewer obvious cases of acute measles infections. Instead, however, we now have many more clinical cases of chronic brain inflammation, the very complication of a natural measles infection that the vaccine was supposed to protect against.

I'd say the measles vaccine program has failed to accomplish what it was meant to do, and now, as a result of our attempts to minimize the rare complication of a measles infection by stopping children from experiencing a measles infection, we have created the very problem of an inordinate amount of children with chronic brain inflammation.

Here's about another 100 court cases proceeding in a number of countries and jurisdictions, which don't require faked up 'studies' from vested interests that can't be trusted for the courts to make up their minds on the evidence presented in front of them:

I went through the first 7 of those studies only one of which focussed on a link between autism and MMR and even then only to suggest further study. Have you gone through the whole list? Any directly on point? Here's a site with links to those studies: http://www.whale.to/vaccine/mercola_wakefield.html

(NaturalNews) Deniers of the link between mercury-laden vaccines and autism are going to have a hard time denying the latest findings by the Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs (CoMeD). The nonprofit group has obtained critical documents via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that exposes the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) role in deliberately lying about and manipulating a key Danish study that showed a clear link between vaccines containing mercury and autism.

In 2003, the journal Pediatrics published a study conducted in Denmark that observed a significant decline in autism rates following the country's elimination of Thimerosal, a mercury-based component, from vaccines. But thanks to the CDC's corrupting influence, the published version of the study in Pediatrics actually claimed the opposite, and alleged that removal of Thimerosal brought about an increase in autism rates.

According to the documents, CDC officials removed large amounts of data from the study that showed a decline in autism rates following the removal of Thimerosal. The agency then twisted the remaining data to imply an increase in autism rates following the removal of Thimerosal, and suggested that there was no link between Thimerosal and autism.

Upon submission of the CDC's tainted version of the study to Pediatrics, the study's authors contacted CDC officials to let them know that the agency had incorrectly interpreted the data. They tried to tell the CDC that its figures and conclusions were wrong, and that corrections needed to be made.

The CDC allegedly responded by saying that it would take a look at the incorrect data, but proceeded to submit the corrupted version of the study to Pediatrics anyway. After encouraging the editors of Pediatrics to perform an expedited review of the corrupted study, the CDC ended up convincing the journal to publish the fraudulent study, which it did in 2003.

Now that this critical information has been officially released for the world to see, CoMeD is pressing the CDC to conduct a full criminal investigation into the matter, and make a formal declaration about whether or not scientific fraud was involved. CoMeD is also calling for a full, immediate retraction of the corrupted study from Pediatrics.

"This should not be tolerated by those who are entrusted with our children's health and well-being," says Lisa Sykes, President of CoMeD.

For all those who've declared the autism-vaccine debate over - a new scientific review begs to differ. It considers a host of peer-reviewed, published theories that show possible connections between vaccines and autism.

The article in the Journal of Immunotoxicology is entitled "Theoretical aspects of autism: Causes--A review." The author is Helen Ratajczak, surprisingly herself a former senior scientist at a pharmaceutical firm. Ratajczak did what nobody else apparently has bothered to do: she reviewed the body of published science since autism was first described in 1943. Not just one theory suggested by research such as the role of MMR shots, or the mercury preservative thimerosal; but all of them.

Ratajczak's article states, in part, that "Documented causes of autism include genetic mutations and/or deletions, viral infections, and encephalitis [brain damage] following vaccination [emphasis added]. Therefore, autism is the result of genetic defects and/or inflammation of the brain."

The article goes on to discuss many potential vaccine-related culprits, including the increasing number of vaccines given in a short period of time. "What I have published is highly concentrated on hypersensitivity, Ratajczak told us in an interview, "the body's immune system being thrown out of balance."

University of Pennsylvania's Dr. Brian Strom, who has served on Institute of Medicine panels advising the government on vaccine safety says the prevailing medical opinion is that vaccines are scientifically linked to encephalopathy (brain damage), but not scientifically linked to autism. As for Ratajczak's review, he told us he doesn't find it remarkable. "This is a review of theories. Science is based on facts. To draw conclusions on effects of an exposure on people, you need data on people. The data on people do not support that there is a relationship. As such, any speculation about an explanation for a (non-existing) relationship is irrelevant."

Ratajczak also looks at a factor that hasn't been widely discussed: human DNA contained in vaccines. That's right, human DNA. Ratajczak reports that about the same time vaccine makers took most thimerosal out of most vaccines (with the exception of flu shots which still widely contain thimerosal), they began making some vaccines using human tissue. Ratajczak says human tissue is currently used in 23 vaccines. She discusses the increase in autism incidences corresponding with the introduction of human DNA to MMR vaccine, and suggests the two could be linked. Ratajczak also says an additional increased spike in autism occurred in 1995 when chicken pox vaccine was grown in human fetal tissue.

Why could human DNA potentially cause brain damage? The way Ratajczak explained it to me: "Because it's human DNA and recipients are humans, there's homologous recombination. That DNA is incorporated into the host DNA. Now it's changed, an altered self and the body kills it. Where is this most expressed? In the neurons of the brain. Now you have the body killing the brain cells and it's an ongoing inflammation. It doesn't stop, it continues through the life of that individual."

Dr. Strom said he was unaware that human DNA was contained in vaccines but told us, "It does not matter...Even if human DNA were then found in vaccines, it does not mean that they cause autism." Ratajczak agrees that nobody has proven DNA causes autism; but argues nobody has shown the opposite, and scientifically, the case is still open.

A number of independent scientists have said they've been subjected to orchestrated campaigns to discredit them when their research exposed vaccine safety issues, especially if it veered into the topic of autism. We asked Ratajczak how she came to research the controversial topic. She told us that for years while working in the pharmaceutical industry, she was restricted as to what she was allowed to publish. "I'm retired now," she told CBS News. "I can write what I want."

We wanted to see if the CDC wished to challenge Ratajczak's review, since many government officials and scientists have implied that theories linking vaccines to autism have been disproven, and Ratajczak states that research shows otherwise. CDC officials told us that "comprehensive review by CDC...would take quite a bit of time."

In light of the preceding, there seems to be a massive cover-up between doctors, big pharma and the medical journals which take so much advertising money from big pharma -- dare I say -- a conspiracy!!??

I'm off to bed -- more interesting findings to come.

The court cases and quiet secret payouts seem to be pretty damning in themselves. Then certain ingredients in the vaxes seemed to create the spike in autism cases in the mid-90s accordign to one account.

I also looked at that redacted email referenced above related to the denmark study - It speaks of a stat in 2001. It doesn't reference the rate of autism in the 90s from what I can see. Also, I didn't see a reference to contradict that cases in Denmark did indeed decline. I couldn't find one using google either. Do you have a reference?